by Gianluigi Marsibilio (@gmarsibilio)
The notion of authenticity in music could have been debated for a few centuries. For the duty of synthesis that imposes a raw and perhaps outdated space like a record review, we can find the tone, the genuine sense of the word in Mike Polizze's Long Lost Solace Find. That tone is essential in his sound, as the simple guitar turns of songs "Vertigo" or "Cheewawa" is not enough, Polizze inserts in this purity of sound, his artistic personality is the real factor, the difference between a passable record and an exceptional one.
Long Lost Solace Find falls within the domain of exceptionality. By being the work of a singer-songwriter connected to the world of folk, its incredibly detached from the very schemes of genre. The first work of courage is in telling, in a folk key, not the stereotype of the forest, of inner peace, of the search for natural perfection, but rather the urban fabric of a city like Philadelphia. The collaboration with Kurt Vile and Jeff Zeigler has surely played an important role in bringing the work into even greater focus.
The guitar is not an instrument at the service of easy melancholy on this album, there is a sunny and simple story of life, of genuineness, though. Purity is also in the use of Polizze’s vocals that blur between sounds like the words of a friend while you're at the bar drinking a beer. This is a record that tells of simple actions, sketches of everyday life with frankness. A key passage to go into this reasoning is an instrumental passage like " D'Modal”.
Very good music theorists could explain the adjective “genuine” in a very precise way, but as we are simple people we just rely on records, a few ramshackle songs and a guitar. Simple, pure. Mike Polizze's Philadelphia confirms itself as a city of musical heroes, quiet but necessary.